Tigers can't overlook winless Marshall

The Marshall Bobcats are 0-3 on the season, but that is no reason for the Green Forest Tigers to overlook them Friday night when the Tigers make their first trip out of Carroll County this year.

"Marshall is a winless football team, but I think they are better than what their record indicates," Green Forest coach Bobby Bishop said. "They have had some turnover problems that have helped out the other team that they were playing, but I look for them to be a tough opponent on the road. This will be our first time out of Carroll County and we will be making our longest road trip of the year. We need to go down there and play well."

Bishop said he had hoped to see a better week of practice as the game at Marshall approaches, but he has seen various improvements as well.

"I think our execution is getting a little better, but sometimes we have focus lapses," Bishop said. "We still aren't catching and throwing the ball real well. We aren't practicing with the kind of emotion I would like to, but it hasn't been too bad. I don't think there will be too big of a letdown after getting a big win Friday. At least I hope not."

Marshall has scored 70 points through three games and Bishop knows the Bobcats’ offense can be dangerous.

"They are a split back, veer team," Bishop said. "They usually operate out of a pro set. They have two good running backs and a strong running fullback and a scatback that plays the other back. They like to run the option and the quarterback isn't bad throwing the ball."

While Marshall has scored 70 points, it has given up 123 points. After watching the Bobcats on film, Bishop knows Green Forest has a chance to make some big plays offensively.

"The two games we have on film, they had some D-backs make mistakes," Bishop said. "They tried to play man-to-man and they had a couple of kids get lost in situations and they gave up some big touchdown passes. I'm sure they have worked hard to try and correct that stuff. I look for them to play us man and try to get after us because we don't throw the ball extremely well. They are going to try to stuff the box, man up and not waste any defenders."